Newsletters Monitor Community Heartbeat

Forget murder and mayhem. The big news, when it comes to headline material for monthly community association newsletters, is of a much homier sort.

The newsletters are as varied as the communities they represent, but those who sweat over the production of them say they all serve to bind members of the community association together.

Tina Worrell, editor of the Wekiva Hunt Club publication, the Wekiva Newsletter, described hers as ''strictly informational.''

One recent edition, for example, included a summary of the board of directors meeting, a list of numbers to call for help and information, including members of the board of directors, committee chairpersons and county government offices. It also included tennis information and notice of a toxic waste workshop scheduled for outside the community.

Other groups, such as the Wedgefield Golf & Country Club Community Association in Orange County, get more elaborate.

The December issue of the Wedgefield Magnifier covered board news as well as news about the developer, golf club, new businesses in the area, birthdays and anniversaries and social events. It also included a children's corner and list of coming events.

Gary Linden, who is president of the association and also publishes the newsletter with his wife, Alice, said the rapidly expanding newsletter is designed to help draw attention to the fast-growing community and to fuel homeowner pride.

In some communities, the job of editor rests with one person year after year. In others, there is a newsletter committee, or the task may be handled by the community's management company.

No matter who handles the newsletter, the person needs to be tuned in to the community. If not, it stops representing the community. If this happens, no one will read the newsletter, said Janice Phagan, author of Communications For Community Associations. The publication is distributed by the Community Associations Institute in Alexandria, Va., a non-profit research and educational organization.

One of the toughest things for a community association to do, however, is to sustain interest and enthusiasm in putting out the newsletter. All too often, the enthusiasm fades, and those who worked so hard at first to find interesting information for the newsletter are scrambling for anything to fill the pages, Phagan said.

To assure itself of a good product, a community association needs to plan ahead. It should determine what it wants to accomplish with the newsletter, decide who is going to do it, where the information will come from, how often it should go out, how much to spend and how it will be delivered.

In determining the focus of the newsletter, directors need to consider what the community needs to know, along with the size and nature of the community, ages, backgrounds and lifestyles of the residents, according to Communications for Community Associations.

A community filled with retirees may be interested in senior citizen activities outside the association, while a community of busy professionals may want a news on events, board action and neighborhood improvements.

To keep the newsletter from becoming a mouthpiece of any individual, those who put out newsletters for local associations recommend gathering as much information as possible from residents.

Some groups ask residents to submit information to their block captains, who then are supposed to funnel the information to the newsletter editor.

Worrell tries to encourage Wekiva residents to drop off articles in a special mailbox she put up next to her house.

Phagan also recommended that groups routinely survey residents on issues and make use of the information. Letters to the editor also can be used to provide input from residents.

The problem of a biased, non-representative newsletter also may cure itself, said one association officer. This often will bring complaints from residents and they can then be added to the communications committee.

Many groups publish newsletters each month, and that is the frequency recommended by the Community Associations Institute guide. But Phagan said if a group doesn't have enough interesting information for a monthly edition, it would be better to publish quarterly.

Once completed, newsletters sometimes are hand-delivered to save money. Groups use block captains or neighborhood children to do the job. Jo Anne Cross, manager of the Cypress Woods community in southwest Orlando, said she likes to hand-deliver newsletters because it gives her a chance to check out the property and chat with residents.

Other groups mail the newsletters. Groups with more than 200 newsletters to mail can cut costs by applying to the U.S. Post Office for a bulk mail rate. (Groups can apply for the rate by going to the U.S. Post Office Mail Classification Office at 10401 Trade Port Drive, Orlando.)